Superb Namibia win IRB Nations Cup

NAMIBIA’S Welwitschias were the only side to maintain their proud 100 percent record at the IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest, after grinding out an impressive 21-16 win against fellow Rugby World Cup qualifiers Georgia to clinch the title for the first time.

Even after the Namibians’ opening win on the tournament’s third match day, Italy A remained a win away from landing the title, but they lost out to hosts Romania 27-22 in dramatic fashion in the last match of the piece to hand the title to the proud Africans.Last year’s tournament champions Scotland A finished winless after the Argentina Jaguars produced their best display to beat them 33-13. In the first half of a match of tremendous physicality, Georgia reverted to the pragmatic simplicity and the sound, cast-iron defence that helped them do so well against Scotland A in the first round of the tournament and, largely as a result, they led 13-0 at the break and looked set to achieve a fine win against the Namibians. The game seemed to swing, though, on the injuries of their captain Tedo Zibzibadze, who departed with a dislocated elbow, and centre Revaz Giauri, who played the rest of the match with a shoulder injury. As a result, the Georgians lost much of their attacking appetite and defensive solidity and after half time the Welwitschias, led by their iron-man Jacques Burger, sensed the discomfort of the Georgians and bounced back with a vengeance. They scored two tries, the first signed off by the indefatigable Burger and the second through their nimble and increasingly influential full back Chrysander Botha, the author of the rest of Namibia’s points. ‘I’m happy with the win though we would have wanted to play better and get the four tries, (which would have yielded a bonus point). Maybe a win is good enough and that’s our first win against Georgia and now I hope Romania will beat Italy A in the last game,’ Jacques Burger, the Namibian captain after the historic win.’We tried to work hard as a team and the work ethic was better than theirs. We knew from the beginning it would be hard and physical and we decided to keep playing. In the last 40 minutes we started to close the gap and capitalise on their mistakes and that was the game.’ ‘At halftime it was a matter of putting all the things together again and telling the boys that we can actually make it; they just had to stop making mistakes, silly mistakes, and start working harder. They did just that and that helped a lot. I do believe that they showed a lot of character after the break and I’m feeling great about this team,’ Namibia’s coach Johan Diergaardt said.’This is not the end, it’s just the beginning as this team has a lot of potential to become a great team. We are thankful for what we have.’ – www.irb.com